Saturday, January 23, 2010

Google has unveiled more Aerial View imagery. Portland, OR, Sacramento and Oakland, CA all now have Google's version of 'bird's eye' imagery.

The new imagery gives much closer zoom levels and allows the map user to view buildings and streets from four different directions. Orbitz, Redfin and Trulia have already updated their websites to include the new imagery.

Orbitz is now displaying this imagery for their Sacramento hotels. Redfin is showing an "Angled" view of their properties in Oakland. Trulia is presenting a "Perspective" view for properties in Sacramento. Toggle to the "Perspective" view from the map for each listing.

If you are interested in using aerial view in you own maps take a look at the concepts, reference and examples of the Google Maps API documentation. Or have a look at the code of some of the demos I've put together myself:

Sea World Tour - Combines Aerial imagery with the Street View special collection of Sea World